Raiders fan Tiger Woods says he 'loves toughness of NFL'

By Steve DiMeglio, USA TODAY

Red has long been the color of choice for Tiger Woods on Sundays — a nod, in the form of a golf shirt, to his mother, who told her son it was his power color.

By Ezra Shaw, Getty Images

Tiger Woods and NFL football quarterback for the Dallas Cowboys, Tony Romo wait on the sixth tee during the second round of the AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am at the Monterey Peninsula Country Club (Shore Course) in February in Pebble Beach, Calif.

Tiger Woods and NFL football quarterback for the Dallas Cowboys, Tony Romo wait on the sixth tee during the second round of the AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am at the Monterey Peninsula Country Club (Shore Course) in February in Pebble Beach, Calif.

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Without protest — he couldn't say no to his mother — Woods began donning tops in all shades of red in 1997, and the color soon became emblematic with winning - 12 of his 14 majors (the other two came on Mondays) and nearly 100 titles were won on the day of rest.

But Woods has other favorite Sunday colors: silver and black.

Although he never played organized football - "I was 5-9, 129 pounds most of my high school career. Who was I going to hit?" Woods says - the NFL quickly caught his interest as a kid growing up in Southern California. His attention gravitated to a rogue collection of players on the NFL's rebel squad, the Raiders.

The Raiders haven't had a whiff of a Super Bowl since, nor had a winning season the past nine years. But Woods remains true to his Silver and Black and the NFL.

"I get juiced up for any Raiders game," Woods told USA TODAY Sports during a recent practice round. "And I do get juiced for the NFL season, especially now that I have a few friends who play in the league. It's something when you see your friends get hit, get knocked down, and they're not getting up. I get worried because there's my buddy on the ground.

"I'll text them to see if they're OK, and then I get texts back while they're in the locker room getting worked on. They text stuff like they're getting bandaged up or they don't know if they are going to be able to play, but they're going to try."

While he wouldn't divulge their names, he made public his admiration for football players.

"I love the toughness of the NFL," he said. "And I love the cerebral aspect of it. Getting to know some of the guys, and getting to see their playbook, now that's something to take in. It's like learning a language. The amount of work they have to put it to make things more reactionary is unbelievable. Most people don't have any idea the amount of work the NFL players put in."

One of the toughest players Woods remembers was actually a Los Angeles Rams defensive end who left a lasting impression - and shared wall space in his bedroom with a poster of Jack Nicklaus.

"I had a Jack Youngblood poster in my bedroom because he played the Super Bowl with a broken leg, and I thought that was the coolest thing ever," Woods said, referring to Super Bowl XIV when the Pittsburgh Steelers beat Youngblood's Rams, 31-19.

"Lo and behold, I wound up doing the same thing in the U.S. Open. But at the time, to hear that someone played football with a broken leg, and knowing it was broken and going back into the second half, that's phenomenal."

"I've played with various forms of pain and injury, and there is a difference between being in pain and being injured. I've played through both. I think I've had some of the success that I've had, like the '08 Open (he won on a broken leg and with torn ligaments in his left knee), because I know the difference.

"I have, for a long time, appreciated what I've seen the NFL players do and the physicality of the sport. And having a dad who was part of the Special Forces, it's been a part of my culture that I grew up in," Woods added.

He also loves the Purple and Gold of his favorite NBA team, the Lakers, and the Dodger Blue of his favorite baseball team, and Woods cites a culture that influenced him and his love for the Raiders.

When Al Davis moved the Raiders from Oakland to Los Angeles in 1982, the team's colors and outlaw reputation appealed to a growing number of black and Hispanic fans and the area's burgeoning rap and hip-hop scene. Almost overnight, Woods says, his school was a parade of kids sporting silver and black jerseys, jackets and prized Raiders caps, or "lids."

"I have three teams - Raiders, Dodgers and Lakers. I grew up in Showtime with the Lakers. I saw the Dodgers win the 1988 World Series and the Raiders win Super Bowls. So, for me, it was a title time. That was my childhood. I grew up at the right time for L.A. sports.

"And then Wayne Gretzky came to L.A., and that's when I found out we had a hockey team. That was kind of cool. And once you've latched on to teams, especially as a kid growing up, it's hard to let go. And I'm not letting go."

Even if the Raiders haven't had a winning season in nine years. His optimism is tempered a bit heading into this season, but nonetheless he holds out hope.

"We have a pretty good offense," Woods said. "If we stay healthy, we could be very good. "Now if only we can stop somebody …"

Editors note: An earlier version of this story incorrectly stated the Raiders were from Oakland when they played in Super Bowl XVIII. They were the Los Angeles Raiders at the time.

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